


Workshop

by Bettername



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aged up characters, Alternate Universe - Post Sgrub, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-21
Updated: 2014-04-21
Packaged: 2018-01-20 07:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1502279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bettername/pseuds/Bettername
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sollux and Equius realize that they might want to be more than just collaborators on a sentry robot program.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Workshop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladysekhmetka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladysekhmetka/gifts).



> This is the first time that I have submitted a fill to a challenge, and is also the first time that I have written these characters with significant amounts of dialogue. I hope that you enjoy the fic!

“Hardware.”

“Software.”

“Hardware.”

“Software.”

Sollux slams both hands down on the work bench and spins the chair around to face the subject of his rapidly increasing ire. “I have double checked the code line by line. It’s not a coding issue EQ, it’s a hardware issue.” It doesn’t take an apiculture prodigy to figure out that the troll further crumpling up an already mangled tool with his bare hands is not in the best of moods for an argument questioning his competency, but Sollux’s last fuck flew out the window of the lab along with his bees.

Equius is too consumed by his need to remain civilized to measure his ability to deal with others in a form of measurement as crude and vulgar as ‘fucks’, however the ball of metal that used to be a screwdriver and broken bits of polycarbonate lodged in his hands are a clear indication of his lack of them. “There are no mechanical reasons why the servos are malfunctioning. The root of the problem lies within the coding Captor,” he grates out. 

“It is not the coding,” Sollux carefully enunciates each word in spite of his lisp. Equius’s only response is continued glaring from behind his cracked shades along with the not so subtle grinding of teeth. Sounds like he just cracked another one.

This is going extraordinarily well. 

Sollux stands and starts to pack up his equipment. “Why don’t you go over to EQ’s hive and build unstoppable mechanized death? It’ll be fun she says.” He slams the lid of his husktop. “A perfect bonding opportunity she says.” He carelessly yanks a slew of cords out of the built in power strip and winds them around his arm. “A joining of two brilliant think pans focused on …,” Sollux trails off as he finally takes a good look at the troll sitting on the other side of the malfunctioning robotic heap. “Are you bleeding?” he blurts out. 

“I,” Equius pauses and glances down at his hands. “I seem to be.” He skims through the assortment of tools, parts, and wire lying on his work bench and picks out a pair of tweezers. His large fingers dwarf the thin metal tool. It’s already bending in his hands. “Fiddlesticks.” Sollux sighs and puts the looped cords back down on his bench. He gingerly steps over the appendages of the robot sprawled out on the floor and stops in front of Equius.

“Give it to me.” Equius looks up. His sunglasses can’t hide him from Sollux now, not from how close he is standing. The dark circles under Equius’s eyes twist something deep within him. It’s akin to the feeling Sollux gets whenever he sees his broken horn or yet another of his endless string of chipped teeth. Sollux holds out his hand. “Give it to me.”

Equius straightens his back. “I have a moirail,” he sharply replies.

Sollux takes the tweezers from him. “I’m not doing this because I want to be your moirail.” He cradles the other troll’s larger hand in his own. The yellow flush of his cheeks is faint as he cautiously plucks shards of plastic out of Equius’s palms. 

Equius weighs his words as he watches Sollux tend to his hands. “So your true purpose was not to build a contingency of robot sentries who happen to be capable of annihilating all life on this planet?” 

“Genocide was more of ED’s thing before the game, not mine,” Sollux dryly chuckles. “AA thought that corroborating on the robotic sentry program with you would be a good opportunity for me to sort my sh-,” he stops, “sort my feelings out.” He sets the tweezers down on the bench. “Did you know that you were the only troll that didn’t try to or succeed in murdering someone? Even KK caved when he saw what GZ did to TZ. When it comes down to it all you ever did was try to help, which doesn’t mean that you’re perfect, far from it. AA has a list she keeps in her…” 

“Captor,” Equius cuts him off. “You are a captivating disaster and it has been my deepest pleasure working alongside you this past perigee.” 

Sollux’s flush darkens. He worries at his bottom lip while Equius focuses solely on him. “Bandages.” Equius looks puzzled. “We still need bandages for your hands.” 

“Ah yes. Leaving the cuts exposed as they are would be ill advised.” Equius stands up and rummages through a cabinet before pulling out a small medical kit. He takes out several rolls of bandages and sets them down on the work bench.

Equius doesn’t sit after retrieving the supplies. Instead he remains standing, holding both hands out, palms facing up. He is close enough to Sollux that he can hear Equius’s slow steady breathing over his own rapid heart rate as he carefully wraps the other’s injured hands. They remain huddled together by the workbench long after Sollux finishes. When they move its Equius that takes Sollux’s hands in his, his thumbs idly rubbing the jutting bones of Sollux’s wrists. Equius’s hands are cold, broad, and calloused compared to Sollux’s own burning heat and thin nimble fingers. Lowbloods, psionics especially, burn hot and burn fast. Equius feels solid, constant, the void of space to surround Sollux’s sun about to supernova. Sollux leans forwards and rests his forehead against Equius’s chest. Equius responds by loosely draping his arms around Sollux’s back, his hands slowly tracing the knobby bones of his spine. 

“Captor? Sollux?” The low rumble pulls Sollux out of his lull. He glances up to find that Equius has pushed his cracked sunglasses back using them to restrain his hair. Sollux’s blood   
pusher skips. “Would it be too forward if I asked if you would care to join me in my pile? We have worked through a sizable portion of the morning and it would behoove us both to get some much needed rest,” his tone sounds cautiously hopeful.

Sollux grins. “Can we turn the heap of mechanized death and frustration into the pile?”

“I will take care of the chassis if you assist with the appendages,” Equius replies.

“That I can handle.”


End file.
